When you’re talking to your mother, she understands. And you can always just pick right up where you left off later. 

If you have come to one of my parties, you know that what I focus my energy on are the favors, inviting people the morning of the event, designing veggie trays, and scrambling to get the rest of the food together at the last minute.

A few weeks ago our friend Annie traveled to Israel to visit family there. Her airplane landed there on Palm Sunday, and she even texted me from the airport to tell me she was there.

Sixteen years ago today our niece was born! She was my very first niece (or nephew), and becoming an aunt brought tremendous joy.

At Ash Wednesday Mass, our family was asked to carry up the gifts. Then on Easter Sunday, our family was asked again.

On Good Friday it is hard to see the beauty through the darkness and the grief. On Good Friday it is finished. We have faith. We know that Easter will bring incredible joy. We know that not all is lost—that life wins out over death, that love overcomes all evil.

You can sit back and watch. You can join the screaming crowds. Or you can walk right beside Jesus, moment by moment, day after day, of this powerful, emotional journey.

Somehow, in the midst of all the updates that statues had been removed for cleaning and that much of the artwork had been carried out safely, I couldn’t find anything about the Blessed Sacrament.

What’s your favorite spring flower? I never can decide. I love the yellows that kick of spring, especially the forsythia and the daffodils.

Were we present at Jesus’ crucifixion? We were, and we are. We can place ourselves in that moment, meditating again on the tremendous sacrifice Jesus made for each of us on the cross. We were there. This Lent we are there.